Obumbrate (The Illumine Series)

by Anders, Alivia

  "It would be useful," Ari said, his eyes sparkling from the sunlight. "In case the Queen tries to pull a fast move, or if someone makes a move on you at the party. Though you already seem to have a good dose of defense down from what I saw against that Vens."

  Ari was right; I wasn't exactly clumsy when it came to fighting. I had the proof in the two Vens I had managed to kill with little help. Although most of the time when push came to shove, my body did more than I realized, like some instinct buried within the memories of my skin and bones. Still, it wouldn't hurt to know what to do when my instincts didn't kick in.

  Lilix took me by the hand, pulling me away from the river's edge and further into the field of flowers. She left me in a patch of blue tulips, putting ample distance between us as she stepped further in-field.

  Finally, she was satisfied. Her voice carried on the wind as she called out. "Call out your fire."

  I did as she told. Pressure built in my chest and flowed through my veins, spreading through my arms and building into the tips of my fingers. With only a spark for warning, blue fire blossomed over my fingers and hands, rushing to engulf my shoulders and chest until it licked my upper half like a mid-cropped turtleneck.

  "Good," I heard her appraise me. "Now attack me."

  I faltered instantly. I didn't like the idea of attacking someone without provocation. "Lilix, I-"

  "Too late," her voice echoed like a whisper of a ghost. I blinked, and she was gone. A faint whistle sound touched my ears just before she collided on top of me.

  We collided in a heap, Lilix instantly pinning me to the ground. Fire lashed at the flowers and grass, incinerating it with puffs of black and white smoke. I gasped, struggling to free myself from her iron-clad hold with kicks and thrashes of my arms. Nothing worked.

  Something snapped in the back of my mind, and instinct took hold of me with force. Like storm waves crashing onto a beach, I blazed fire off my chest in a gust of heat, throwing Lilix back high into the air.

  She spun in mid-air, catching herself and landing perfectly on her feet, just like a cat. I could spot several small cuts and burns from my fire, part of her long bangs burned to a black crisp.

  I shot out my hand, a burning strip of fire flinging like a whip. It lassoed around one of Lilix's wrists, spiraling up her arm and shocking her with waves of pulsating fire. Three pulses into it, she dropped onto her knees, eyes rolled heavenward, and collapsed.

  Watching her pass out instantly snapped me from my instinctual rage. I extinguished my fire with a single pause, running over to her small, crunched in frame.

  "Lilix? Holy crap, Lilix can you hear me?" I repeated frantically, turning her over onto her back.

  Her eyes fluttered open, a taunting smile playing on her lips. "Nicely done, but you forgot one thing."

  I blinked, confused, until a pair of warm hands wrapped around my neck without warning.

  Ari's voice whispered in my ear, teasing me the same way Lilix had just done. "You turned your back on the enemy."

  "Dammit, you two are no fun," I scowled, turning around with a fist full of flames to smack Ari in the face with. He let me go and leapt back, laughing as he dodged me a couple of times. My heart felt light and free, like a bird released from its cage. I had forgotten what it felt like to truly smile and live in the moment.

  Tackling Ari onto the ground, Lilix cheered me on. I had brought my hand inches from Ari's face when he called everything to a grinding halt.

  "Essallie, what is that?"

  My eyes traveled from his face, worry etched deep in his eyes, to my hand. At first I didn't see it, but then I stared closer. My fire, blue and beautiful, was now turning black at the tips.

  Pushing off Ari, I got up to my feet, using my free hand for support. All the while, I couldn't take my eyes off the shift in color of the fire, it's change distracting.

  "Huh," I said to no one in particular. I twisted my hand from one side to the other, marveled by the stained flames. "And here I thought I was beyond surprises."

  "What kind of surprise?" Kayden's voice came from the side. I turned to see him standing alongside Ari, having materialized from smoke.

  Holding out my hand, I gestured to the black fire with shrug of the shoulders. "It's kind of cool, actually. Though I was expecting white after seeing Ari's fire." Fire snaked up my arm like a protective barrier from the world. "When did your fire start to do this, Ari?"

  Ari stared at me, frozen in shock. With difficulty, he turned to meet Kayden's equally dismayed stare. They both turned back to me, staring for what felt like an eternity with the same soul-crushing, sorrowful stare. Both of their eyes gave me the impression that they were burying an emotion deep, down under the surface. My skin began to prickle, a cold ache settling in my bones that had nothing to do with the large cloud passing over the sun. And that's when it hit me.

  They didn't have to say anything, because Ari's fire never turned black.

  Ari had never been dying.

  I was.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  GRAVITY

  "You need to eat something, Essallie."

  "I'm not hungry."

  "You have to eat before the party. Last thing we need is you playing the Fainting Damsel in the Queen's quarters."

  The day had finally come, a week having passed in a whirlwind of death markers and uncomfortable bits of silence. In a matter of hours, I would be playing myself into the Queen's castle. The thought alone brought a whole new wave of nausea to it.

  The last two days of the week had been hellish, and that was putting it lightly. After the display of my impending death in the grassy fields, I'd locked myself in Lilix's room without contact from everyone. At first I thought I'd only need a minute to put a brave face back on. The two days of sleeplessness and uncontrollable shaking soon proved otherwise. I had known I was dying for weeks now, but never actually saw proof of it happening before me. Seeing the black fire had been like waking up in hell itself, surrounded by searing lava and creatures of death, unable to free myself for all of eternity.

  It had taken Kayden and Ari both to coax me out of the bedroom for the party crashing scheme. Now, sitting at the island countertop in the kitchen, I was wishing I hadn't.

  "I always had a nagging suspicion you were a closet anorexic," Kayden said, trying his hand at livening the mood. "You not eating that sandwich is only solidifying my thoughts that you're going to need a cheeseburger and ice cream binge night soon."

  Glaring silently at Kayden, I kept my mouth shut, looking back to the plate in front of me and grimacing. He had done his best to make a sandwich fit for human consumption; ham, tomato, spinach and mustard on two slices of white toast. On a normal day, I would have happily swallowed it whole. Today, not so much.

  "I can't eat this," I said with a sigh. "I just don't have the stomach for it."

  He leaned in across the countertop, serious. "Think of that sandwich like the Queen. Defeating that sandwich will only make it tastier."

  My lip twitched. "That made no sense."

  "But it did get you to grin."

  "Don't know what you're talking about."

  "I bet a joke on bakeries and muffins will fix that."

  A half-choked laugh caught in my throat. I grabbed the sandwich off the plate and shoved a bite in my mouth, savoring the first bit of food in days. "I'm so nervous about tonight."

  Kayden met my eyes for a moment across the counter, his hands digging into another freshly sliced fish. "Panties in a bunch over the Queen boiling for your blood? Don't be."

  "Why not?" I asked.

  "She won't do anything," he snickered, shaking his head. "She's the type who likes to play up on the drama. Draw it out, you know, like all vengeful high school-brained girls do."

  This time, I let out the laugh that had built in my chest. Ari came into the room just as I finished my fit of laughter, his face carefully neutral as he swept his gaze from over the two of us.

  He took the seat two over from me, pul
ling at the collar of his white button-up. He had already gotten dressed for the party, a full tuxedo that made him twice as handsome and dashing.

  Taking a fork, he stabbed at a piece of salmon in the frying pan and pulled it out to eat. Kayden shot him a mixed glare of anger and surprise. "Let's run over this one last time."

  I ran down everything I knew. "All three of us are heading to the Queen's castle, you and I, and Kayden separately. We're going to try and keep our noses clear, then wait for a moment to dodge out to her private end of the castle and wait for her. I confront, figure out why she's out for me..."

  "And then you kill her," Kayden said simply.

  Ari and I both stared at him. I envisioned fighting her and her shadows, their icy touch sucking the life of my fire right out from me. "Just one, teeny tiny, small problem; even if I could get close enough to her, I can't kill her."

  "Why not?"

  "Her shadows," I replied in a low, nervous tone. "They can strip me of my fire at her command. If we go in there, and she wants to fight or hold me, I won't make it out."

  Ari looked livid, eyes burning with a bold and emblazoned fire. He sat straighter in his chair as he spoke, "You will make it back here, I promise you. We will come out together. As for the blending in part, we know the earrings and necklace won't shield you from her, so Lilix gave me something for you last night." He procured a small, thin green vial from thin air, reaching out to give it to me.

  I took the vial gingerly, an uneasy feeling rolling in my stomach. "What is it?"

  "A camouflage potion, so to speak. Lilix graciously donated some of her hair at the chance for you to play her."

  I shook my head and shoved the vial back at him, adamant. "No, nuh-uh, not happening. I am not getting involved with all these magic potions and junk."

  "Look, do you want to get in there and know why she's after you or not?"

  "Well, yeah-"

  "Then go get dressed in one of the gowns in her room, and meet us in the drawing room."

  I stomped off to my room in a huff, muttering something about knocking both of their skulls into their heads if they ever tried anything like this again.

  Inside my room, I went through Lilix's closet, not for the first time since I'd gotten here. The girl had everything from mortal high-end labels like Louis Vuitton and Chanel, to other brands in various languages I didn't even try to pretend and comprehend. Each cabinet and separate closet had a unique set of colored bags sheathed over the clothes stored inside, and I ended up going through four closets of red, yellow, purple, and green sheathed clothes before finally finding all the gowns in a closet with blue colored bags.

  Each dress was an elegant masterpiece, decorated with the true craft of a professional, one-of-a-kind designer. The more bags I unzipped, the greater the detail on the dress; elegant, hand-stitched swirls embedded with real gems, trains of taffeta and satin cut expertly to frame a unique figure. All of this, for Lilix. The younger, former fashionista within me squealed in delight, knowing all too well that if you owned a dress specifically made for you, you had all you needed in life. Or so I had originally thought.

  On the fifth dress unveiling, I heard a polite knock on door leading into the room. I let out an infuriated, irritated sigh.

  "Ari, Kayden, if either one of you comes in here I swear, I'll remove your organs and make pretzels out of them."

  "And if I'm neither of the offenders at hand?" A soft, higher voice came from the bedroom.

  I craned my neck out of the blue-bagged closet, spotting a blonde ponytail, followed by an even more familiar pair of glowing blue eyes. Lilix had been hovering in the doorway, dressed in a buttery sundress, blue flowers patterned on the fabric. For a brief moment she reminded me of a southern blonde of a famous vampire TV show, if only her skin had been tanned and a gap between her two front teeth.

  Lilix smiled, showing off her perfectly aligned and evened pearly whites. She joined me in the vast and roomy space of her personal closet, eyes settling on the cabinet of blue slipped bags. "I heard you were hunting for an outfit for tonight?"

  "Something like that." Gesturing to her vast collection I was in the process of destroying, I continued. "I've found everything but the brown potato sack in here."

  She rolled her eyes, the corners of her mouth twitching to fight back a smile. I automatically thought of Kayden and his brooding, rapidly altering moods. "I see you've been hanging around Kayden a lot, silly half-blood. Essie, right? That's what he calls you."

  "Essallie, he calls me Essie for short."

  She gave a small, thoughtful nod. "Your mother didn't happen to be high when she gave birth to you, did she?"

  My face flushed. "No? Why?"

  "Creative names like that typically warrant use of things like LSD. Not that your mother used anything of the sort," she hurriedly added at the sight of my face and clenched fists on the bed. If I didn't think she could fix a broken nose with a spell, I would have punched her. She sighed. "I keep going off topic. I came over to help you get ready, and here I am insulting you. I'm sorry."

  I shrugged; I didn't really care about the rude remark. It was the fact that hearing about my Mom could still bring out something in me that hurt. The fact that my birth was one giant intentional breeding fest on my father's part. But some things just weren't meant to be shared, especially with the relatively unknown.

  "Actually, I think I could use the help. Any idea what would blend in well with tonight's party?"

  Walking over to the cabinet, she seemed to think about it, running her fingers over each bag and letting them rest for a moment before moving along. Then she grabbed one of the bags in the back, pulling it completely free from the closet and zipping it out from the bag.

  It was gorgeous; a white corset detailed with golden thread, gold lacing in the back, the cut perfect for a woman's frame. It looked like a cross between a princess gown and delicate wedding dress, yet held something dark and forbidding. I envisioned myself wearing the dress, pairing it with a white, jeweled mask made for an evening of old socialite gossip and secret kisses on the wrist.

  Judging by Lilix's smile, she must have approved of my gaping shock. Unlacing the back half of it with one hand, she beckoned me closer. "Come here, let's get you in this."

  It took a little wiggling, but I managed to slide into the dress without a bodice and minimum gut-sucking. On my regular frame, the dress sat awkwardly, too loose in the chest and hips. Apparently, I was no Marilyn Monroe with a figure eight to boast about.

  Lilix took to lacing up the back of the dress, tying to pre-fit it where it would sit perfectly after my change. She had me sit in front of a mirror, grabbing a spare vanity chair from her bedroom. A chilling, nagging sensation itched at my neck, hairs standing up on their ends. I felt like I had done this before, the ghost of the memory creeping over me.

  "Ah, there it is," I heard from the other room. Lilix walked back in, holding a strand of pearls in her hands. She wrapped the strand gently around my neck and fastened it together, looking at me through the mirror with satisfaction. "Perfect. You look heavenly."

  I watched her through the mirror, a hand reaching up to touch the pearls around my neck. "This is all so beautiful. Thank you."

  She laughed. "Don't thank me, thank whoever I had commission this two hundred years ago." A dreamy look melted into her eyes, memories playing like a sweet lullaby in her head. "I'm pretty sure it was for a ball of some sort. No doubt I was chasing after a prince in some vain attempt to feel normal with the royals of England."

  I was astonished, eyebrows raising high on my forehead. "How old are you, Lilix?"

  Her eyebrows rose high on her head. "My, don't you know to never ask a lady her true age?" She placed a hand on her cheek, staring thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "Honestly, I've lost track. It's been some time since anyone's actually asked me how long I've been around."

  "But you were here long before you met Kayden?"

  "Oh yes, without a doubt," she nodded in a
ffirmation. "I can remember up to the 1300's with perfectly clarity. Anything past that is a little hazy."

  Unbelievable. I was standing in front of someone with over 700 years under their belt, and still she looked like she could have passed for my younger sister. "I thought witches were just humans practicing the craft."

  That got her to laugh loud, her hands hugging her body as she let it out. Her head shook. "No, but that's what movies and books lead you to believe. There are actual witches, ones with the bloodline built deep within them, and there are mortal who play with silly little spells and incantations you can find on the internet. A real witch never ages, never dies, and carries the mark of her kind. But I'm not a witch." She pointed to her glowing eyes, showing the cats eye shape of her pupil. "See these? They are the mark of my people, a race far different from anything Earth has to offer. Though I have been accused of being a witch many times. Apparently if you're good with potions and have a gift for surviving the impossible, you're a witch. Who knew?"

  I stared at her, bewildered. "Then, if you're not a witch, what are you?"

  She seemed to pause for a moment, eyes drifting with the look of lost time. When she stared back at me, the weight of thousands of years pressed against my subconscious. "The human language doesn't have a word for our kind, but the closest is guardian."

  "You said Earth as if," I hesitated, tethered to the last bit of my thought. Lilix's gaze had swallowed me whole, sucking me into a soul-searching gaze. "As if you're not from here."

  "You're right, I'm not." She said without shaking her head. "Our kind came here long before mortals were putting blood on stone, back when the mystics of this world were the majority. Few living today know we exist. We are a dying race, not by choice, but by destiny. It is a true, tragic fate."

  I felt ashamed, my cheeks burning with indignation. The first few times I had met Lilix, I could have sworn she was completely dumb, giving blondes everywhere a bad reputation. The more she spoke, the worse I felt on my horrid assumption. She had been prime witness to empires rising and falling, kings and queens making all the wrong choices, and in the end she would die, just like me. Yet there could be no comparison. Standing next to Lilix, I suddenly looked like a whiny child, a far cry from the teenager shelved with a great opportunity to take out a violent evil.